why not so much wider arts(sambo, silat)?

[robin101]

I was wondering the other day why we dont see much of (if any at all) SAMBO or Silat in MMA?
Few would argue that the core arts of MMA at the moment are:

Boxing
Muay thai
wrestling (western)
Brazillian jujutsu

and the sideline (some presence) arts are :

Karate (kyokushin mostly with some shotokan)
Judo
San-shou

But we dont see some other arts, I would have thought that sambo which is touted as a very practical art would be more prevalent, it is itself a mixed martial art, with elements of judo, jujutsu, karate, boxing and russian wrestling .
and silat has an aggressive sparring element (tanding) where they appear to put on pads and wail the crap out of each other.

(note dont practice these arts, but have heard these things bout them)

 

[FollowYourBliss]

I think it has a lot to do with adapting. The arts that you listed as dominate can be modified quite easily for MMA. However, more traditional arts such as Karate require more changes and MMA specific curriculums for those arts are not as available as things like Thai boxing and boxing.

 

[Connoisseur]

There are Sambo practitioners, but it's just not as popular or widespread as the other arts. Sambo is essentially a variation of judo that emphasizes leglocks, and the MMA variant you're thinking of is combat sambo, which is what the Russian military is taught. Fedor & Aleks are both decorated combat sambo players, Arlovski was a junior national sambo champ, I also think that Alexey Oleinik is a sambo player. Sergei has a Sambo background. Fujii is the 'Princess of Sambo'. Oleg back in the day. It's more of a Russian thing to be honest, the only prominent Sambo schools in the US are in New York (Riley Bodycomb and those guys). And any student of Gokor Chivichyan basically.

As for Silat, i'm not too knowledgable about that, aside from what i've seen on Human Weapon/ Fight Quest. It looks more like a traditional martial art, with a big focus on weapons and discipline, probably not too applicable to MMA.

 

[LyotoM]

Sambo is not in a lesser category of use than san-shou. And you forgot Catch/Shootwrestling

 

[Connoisseur]

CSW is awesome. The head grappling instructor at Xtreme Couture (Neil Melansen) was trained by Gokor Chivichyan & Gene Lebell, so he has quite a bit of experience in sambo & catch-as-catch-can.

The way he teaches grappling, you're always making the other guy miserable. You force uncomfortable positions on your opponent to create oppenings. If i'm in side control, i'm heavy on you and crushing you, slowly making you quit while I set up my armlocks/ passes/ chokes. If i'm in half guard, i'm smashing you with a crossface and digging my shin into your thigh until I pry my other leg out. If i'm in mount, i'm grapevining and forcing all my weight onto you, or i'm crossfacing you and posting knees onto your arms & chest. In guard, i'm posting my forearm into your neck while I set up a triangle. Etc etc ad nauseam.

It's a very effective and mean approach to grappling/ fighting. I try to go easy while rolling, but I also know how to turn it up to 11 when I need to. IMO, it's what catch wrestling is all about- creating opportunities to crank or choke by making the other guy miserable.

 

[mikecello]

Maybe it has something to do with availability of trainers or locations. I wouldn't know where to train in Sambo in Seattle...and Seattle is kind of a big place. But I can train in BJJ and Judo from a comfortable bike ride from my home.

And I'll admit that I never heard of Silat until I looked it up three seconds ago on Wikipedia.

 

[mjw1]

Arlovski & Fedor

We had a Russian Sambo guy who came into my BJJ gym for about 6 months lots of leg attacks rather than passing the guard with him for the most part though he would also pass at times I learned quite a bit about leg attacks and how to defend better against them while he was there.....


Sambo is rumored to have been developed from Judo since they weren't as good at the throws etc. they would drop down and attack the legs/ankles etc. so I heard though that could be wrong.

 

[gotobread]

Because Silat is stupid.

 

[Lionidas]

MMA is still a very young sport.

Keeping that in mind, it's going to be a while before we see a wider array of martial arts being used in the octagon. I have a feeling that Sanda, Sambo and even Savate will start becoming more popular once MMA starts becoming more worldwide.

As of right now, MMA is extremely popular in the USA, Brazil and Japan. A few other countries are starting to get into it, but it'll take some more time before we see world champions in other arts start MMA.

 

[underwater]

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silat, lol

 

[Mr Fingers]

I defiantly think it has to do with the availability of Sambo and Silat. Where I live there has to be at least ten different places to train Boxing, Muay Thai, BJJ, and general MMA within 30 minutes of my house. MMA is so popular in California there are gyms all over the place although a lot of them are fitness based garbage. Off the top of my head I can

 

[gotobread]

I'm shocked that Sambo and Silat are even being uttered in the same sentence.

 

[barnowl]

Rules favor the holy quad. It really is that simple. any other art that goes in to MMA starts to look like the boxing/MT/Wrestling/BJJ. There are only so many ways to deliver a fist or a shin and when you further limit those options via protective gear ( gloves and tape that limit the wrist) or rules ( no 12-6 elbow strikes) things are even more likely to look similar.

 

[EVIL5150]

I haven't seen a lot of practical Silat. Everything I've seen has been flowery exhibition stuff, or lame no punches to the head point sparring

 

[mjw1]

Silat doesn't look like it's for the ring